Civilization

A groundbreaking narrative that explores the ways in which biology and history have shaped our understanding of what it means to be “human”.

A New York Times-bestselling historian charts how and why societies from ancient Greece to the modern era chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time....

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history....

Yuval Noah Harari returns with an original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity's future and our quest to upgrade humans into gods....

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own....

The epic history of the crossroads of the world - the meeting place of East and West and the birthplace of civilization....

Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece....

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages....

The Emperor of All Maladies reveals the many faces of an iconic, shape-shifting disease that is the defining plague of our generation....

This audiobook narrated by John Chancer tells the gripping story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever.

In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did....

Providing an insider's look into the decades of research behind Zecharia Sitchin's complete works as well as an in-depth overview of his theories, this collection includes carefully selected chapters from the Earth Chronicles series....

We live in an anxious age. Long-held certainties, cherished beliefs, and social trust are crumbling. Don’t expect things to get better. For too long we have taken our Christian heritage—the heritage upon which America was built—for granted.

Ed Conway embarks on an epic journey across continents, cultures, and epochs to reveal the underpinnings of modern life on Earth—traveling from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan to the eerie green pools where lithium originates....

A fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home....

Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated....

A narrative history of how Attila, Genghis Khan and the so-called barbarians of the steppes shaped world civilization....

When three-month-old Lia Lee arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion....

Based on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse.

If there is one belief that has united the left and the right, psychologists and philosophers, ancient thinkers and modern ones, it is the tacit assumption that humans are bad. It's a notion that drives newspaper headlines and guides the laws that shape our lives....

In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more....

So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it...

At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen. Here, historian Eckart Frahm tells the epic story of Assyria and its formative role in global history....

The New York Times best-selling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live — how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die....

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen....

Tom Holland gives a dazzling portrait of Rome's first imperial dynasty. Dynasty traces the full astonishing story of its rule of the world: both the brilliance of its allure, and the blood-steeped shadows cast by its crimes. Ranging from the great capital rebuilt in marble by Augustus to the dank and barbarian-haunted forests of Germany, it is populated by a spectacular cast: murderers and metrosexuals, adulterers and druids, scheming grandmothers and reluctant gladiators.

"The Great Lives of Antiquity" presents 23 lives of historical figures not as distant icons, but as vibrant personalities who faced challenges, made decisions, and forged destinies. You will meet Aesop, whose fables have transcended time; Hypatia, who enlightened Alexandria; and Cleopatra, whose intelligence and political savvy speak to the complexities of power in history.

Delve into the fascinating world of dirt in this history of culture, cleanliness, and our evolving perceptions of what is and isn’t gross. In this engaging and often humorous study of life’s imperfections, public health and hygiene authority Terence McLaughlin dissects our attitudes toward the filth that has accompanied society throughout human history. According to him, “dirt” is a matter of opinion.

In popular media and culture, the Paleolithic era is often depicted as a time when humans were completely savage, spoke with little more than grunts, hit women over their heads with clubs and kidnapped them, and of course, everyone lived in caves. The reality is that the Paleolithic era was a time of great change when humans coalesced into groups and developed different technologies that helped them survive and ultimately thrive in harsh environments.

In Olympus After Twilight: The Persistence of the Greek and Roman Gods in the Modern World, Conner G. Porter Taylor invites us on a fascinating journey through time, exploring how the ancient deities of Greek and Roman mythology have left an indelible mark on our contemporary culture. This book not only delves into the myths and legends that have formed the basis of these ancient civilizations, but also reveals how these tales have evolved and adapted over the centuries to remain relevant in the modern world. Through a detailed and narrative approach, the author introduces us to the main ...

What determines what we eat today? Who decides what ends up on our dinner tables tomorrow? And what are the real origins of our favorite foods? Tom Hillenbrand takes readers on a fast-paced journey through the culinary history of the world—from the campfires of many thousands of years ago to the invention of corn to the hamburgers of the future. Filled with astonishing insights and surprising connections, Hillenbrand's essay is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking portrayal of what lies behind the food we consume every day.

We’ll discuss an incredible period in the history of our Earth when everything was colossal in size, how the Nephilim came about, what they did and the events that unfolded in the hidden pages of our ancient sacred books, which shaped our world as we know it today. This tome is a compilation of incredible episodes that the Bible only mentions on the surface. We will go deep, accounting for every detail since the creation of the first human being over the face of the Earth. You will gain insight of how the celestial government works and how the Nephilim were placed in the highest seats in ...

War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization—sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to Hiroshima, moments when war has ended in utter annihilation have reverberated through the centuries, signaling the end of political systems, cultures, and epochs. Though much has changed over the millennia, human nature remains the same. In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration.

How Would You Like Your Mammoth? is a chronological journey through the culinary history of humankind, with fifty short, snackable essays packed to the brim with juicy tidbits and cultural insights. With author Uta Seeburg as your guide, you'll learn not only which dishes are linked to key cultural moments, but also how each represents the social hierarchy and values of the civilization that invented it.

What has transpired as a result of The Treaty of Tilsit?

In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history's greatest threats: succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, drowning on board the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you'd need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival, helping you learn about the era at the same time

The mourners fall silent with anticipation as Pericles walks briskly from the sepulchre to the erected stage. After a slight pause, he takes a deep breath and begins an eloquent funeral oration. He speaks on the glory of Athens and the honor of her dead. It is the Athenian winter of 431 B.C. and the city-state is engaged in a bitter war with its rival Sparta. Pericles’ resounding voice echoes off the surrounding hills and into the ears of Thucydides, the historian who records them in his work, The History of the Peloponnesian War. About eight hundred years later, a Christian bishop in ...

Globalization is bringing international populations into ever-greater contact. Media and the Internet is reaching across nations and continents like never before. While many cultures welcome diffusion and are interested in different ideas and values, this is not always the case. People are wary of those unlike themselves and some cultures feel threatened by the West, the major force behind market capitalism. Specifically, many in the Muslim world feel their religion and customs are incompatible with western culture. This conflict is not unique to the modern era, but is a resurgence of an ...

The Echo of Ancient Civilizations, a Book by Bo Carson, is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking to walk in the path of the ancient world. With a masterful combination of scholarship and readability, retrace the rise and fall of civilizations from the earliest times to the Roman Empire. This book is a must-read for students of history, anthropology, and archaeology, as well as anyone with a passion for the rich tapestry of human culture. Whether you're looking to deepen your knowledge or explore a new area of study, "The Echo of Ancient Civilizations" is a great read. Dive into the ...

For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Echoing down time, each of these persists in our imagination as an emblem of the glory of antiquity, but beneath the familiar images is a surprising, revelatory history.